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The Queen had offered to save Invidia's life, to sustain her, in exchange for her service There had been no other option but death

Though they sent a wave of agony washing through her body, she ignored the parasite's torturous movements Like shadows, there was, of late, also an abundance of pain

And a small voice that whispered to her from some dark, quiet corner of her heart told her that she deserved it

"You keep co woman at her elbow

Invidia felt herself twitch in surprise, felt her heart suddenly race, and the parasite rippled, inflicting further torment She closed her eyes and focused on the pain, let it fill her senses, until there was no se in her mind

One never showed fear to the vord Queen

Invidia turned to face the young wo Queen looked almost like an Aleran She was quite exotically lovely, with an aquiline nose and a wide reen silk that left her shoulders bare, displaying s, fine, and white, falling in a gently waving sheet to the backs of her thighs

Only sernails were green-black talons, made of the same steel-hard vord chitin that arid appearance, and alht of the croach, showing the faint green tracings of veins beneath its surface

Her eyes hat frightened Invidia, even after htly at the corners, like those of the Marat barbarians to the northeast, and they were completely black They shone with thousands of faceted lenses, insectlike, and watched the world with cal indifference

"Yes, I suppose I do," Invidia replied to her "I told you that this place represents a risk You see to listen to my advice So I have taken it uponused as a base or hiding place for infiltrators"

The Queen shrugged a shoulder, unconcerned The movement was smooth but somehoard - it was a mannerism she had copied but clearly did not understand "This place is guarded ceaselessly They could not enter it undetected"

"Others have said as much and been mistaken," Invidia warned her "Consider what Countess Amara and Count Bernard did to us last winter"

"That area had not been consolidated," the Queen replied calmly "This one has" She turned her eyes to the little houses and tilted her head "They gather together for food at the saht"

"Yes," Invidia said The Aleran holders elt in the little steadholt in cobbled-together households had been working the fields and going about the business of a steadholt as if they were not the only ones of their kind living within a month's hard march